Google Chrome OS is a free open source, lightweight operating system designed and optimized for web use, and will mainly be targetted to netbooks. Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 and ARM processors and is planned to be included in a number of OEM netbooks in 2009-2010. It is a separate project from Android, however there are areas where to the two operating systems overlap.

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I've tried light-weight 'cloud' computing before with the initial Eee Xandros operating system, and then tried Ubuntu... ultimately went back to XP. It felt like coming home.

I'm not saying that Windows is the be-all and end-all, but between Windows and OSX I don't really see what Chrome OS offers. And I'm saying this as a HUGE fan of the Chrome browser.

1. Speed - do people REALLY care if their computer boots up in 7 seconds versus 30? Considering people have their computer on for hours at a time, utility is marginal. Though in those rare cases where you just want to check something quickly it's useful.

2. Security - with Windows 7, Linux and OSX I don't feel like modern operating systems have much of a security issue. At this point in time the biggest security threats are fishing scams through e-mail, twitter and Facebook. Nothing to do with the OS.

3. Cost - it is free. I think most people don't really consider the cost of an OS as it's "hidden" when they buy a new computer. Which is obviously why Google is going to have computer partners.

As it currently stands, and how I understand the OS making it entirely web/cloud based is too much. Sure most of the time we use our browsers for productivity and such, and I'm a very heavy user of cloud apps. However, when you want to do basic things like watch a movie... you need a local media player. It looks like they have a local photoviewer, but I haven't seen a native video player yet. In general they're going to need to solve the media issue, which may be likely.

I mean Netbooks are about the Internet, productivity, and media. Internet is obviously covered. To cover the other two they're going to need offline versions of Google Docs, and an offline version of a media player.

And then there's things like sharing files etc...

By the end of 2010 which is their scheduled launch date, you're going to be able to get extremely powerful netbooks for under $300 that come with Windows 7 and work absolutely great. If Apple comes out with a low-cost netbook that'll be sweet as well. I just don't know why anyone would limit themselves so fundamentally from an application perspective, just to gain some slight performance (maybe).